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Friday, June 29, 2001
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I went shopping today!!!! YAY!!!! I've wanted to go shopping for so long, and I finally got to. Okay, it was just to Pyramid, but still, Pyramid mall does have an Aeropostale and an Old Navy, and I got lots of cute, cute clothes. And I've been needing to get shorts and I got those, too! I'm so excited!!!!
Yeah, so that was really the highlight of my day. Other events included going to stalk some boys with Amy (semi-successful for Amy, not at all successful for Liz, but that's okay) and sunning by the sundial (so perfect) in the engineering quad. I'm starting to look pretty tan, which is good, very good. I also had fajitas and ice cream cake at Amy's. Very good meal. All in all, a good, good day! I decided not to go to the party I was considering going to, because I'm tired and I hadn't been home in 7 hours. I feel bad, because the people throwing the party are really nice, but I'm just not up for it. =( Oh, well. Hopefully, there will be other parties this summer. And now, if I were to spend the rest of the weekend working, I would be content, because I really should do some studying for finals, even if my classes are easy....
- Lizzardie, at 10:49 PM
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Thursday, June 28, 2001
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So....here was my thought process....when I first decided to do co-op, I figured that it would suck to have to take classes over the summer, but that was okay, because no one would be around, so I would have time to study....then I found out that several people WOULD be around for the summer, and I got worried - I would probably want to hang out with said people all the time (because I can't bear the thought of missing something fun) and when would I have time to study - everyone kept telling me how hard co-op classes are....of course neither of those two scenarios panned out. Yes, there are people here. But, no matter how much I see them, it's not enough. I had lunch with Amy on Monday and dinner with Amy on Tuesday, but still spent the rest of those two days (when I wasn't in class) extremely bored. No, the classes aren't hard. Two classes, 4 prelims down. What are my prelim grades, you ask? Accounting: 100/100, 100/100. Stats: 58/60, 97/100. I filled out my course evaluation for stats today - for the question how much time outside of classes to you spend on said course, I put 5-8 hours, really thinking it was closer to 2-4 hours. 2-4 hours/week on a 4 credit, 6 week course that's normally taught in 14 weeks. What was I told my second day at Cornell? "You should spend between 2-3 hours per credit hour per week (a semester week, not a summer week) per class." What a joke.
And yet I think, wow, my biggest problem is that I'm doing too well in my classes for my satisfaction. What the hell is my problem? I invite you all to smack some sense into me, because I'm just being dumb. I'm satisfied with my social life, my family isn't grating on my nerves (hard to do when they're all 1000 miles away), I'm healthy, and I'm currently breezing by classes at a university that's known for working its students way too hard. Right now, of all the people I know, I'm the last one who should be able to complain about anything.
Wow, Liz, you really make sense. Thanks for all your help. =) It's amazing how writing it all down puts things into perspective.
- Lizzardie, at 12:19 AM
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Monday, June 25, 2001
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"Milk before eMoo....Milk after eMoo..." I started to listen to the radio again, and this is all I hear ALL THE TIME. Have any of you out there actually tried eMoo??? If so, please email me, because I want to know what all the hype is about, but I'm a little scared to try something that is described as "bubbling milk."
- Lizzardie, at 10:59 PM
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Sunday, June 24, 2001
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Liz is very, very bored. =( And quite upset that no one was around to come out and play with her this weekend. =( Ahh, well. Tomorrow it's back to the summer school grindstone. I'm expecting next weekend to be better!!!
- Lizzardie, at 11:50 PM
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"Without struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass
Yeah, now you're all going, where's the struggle in Liz's life? Well, there may not be a lot, but guess what? Life gets tough for us all, and I know that one day, I'm going to have to look upon this quote to keep me going. I'm just glad it will be there.
- Lizzardie, at 12:21 AM
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Saturday, June 23, 2001
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So, I was looking forward to going to work today, just because I don't have anything else to do. My work is done, I cleaned the apartment - what more is there to do, especially on a rainy day? But, of course, it's incredibly slow here today, given the rain and the fact that the shows for this weekend are all sold out. I swear, I can't win. I suppose I could start on that scholarship application, but I hate those things. All it is is me bragging about my various accomplishments and activities/awards. Okay, maybe it's not as bad as I make it out to be, but it's still not fun. Last night, I was so bored that I IMed 4 people. Yes, 4 people. Given that I hardly ever IM people (not because I don't want to, but I just usually wait for people to IM me - it's horrible, I know), I think this demonstrates how truly bored I was. It's absolutely awful, living with antisocial people, although I suppose it's better than living by myself. What am I going to do when I get to Connecticut and I don't know anyone? I have a feeling I'm going to be coming to Ithaca an awful lot....who wants to let me crash on their couch???
- Lizzardie, at 2:38 PM
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Friday, June 22, 2001
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Ahhhh, Friday....gotta love Friday. I especially love Friday, because I have no class on Friday. That's just me, though...
So....I've been in a better mood since I wrote last. This is probably due to the fact that I have talked to my friends/seen my friends, and that always puts me in a better mood. Last night, I had dinner at Amy's, which was fun. She made lasagna, I brought brownies. All in all, it was a lot of fun. After dinner, I did online shopping with Amy and her roommate Ilyse at Banana Republic. I had never actually purchased anything from Banana Republic, but now I think I'm hooked. Just add it to the list of places Liz can't get enough of (at least as far as online). It's just that the sales are so good! And between the 3 of us (and I by far spent less than either Amy or Ilyse) we bought enough to get free shipping. And it wasn't on my credit card. And I should really stop justifying myself....
Anyway, the plan for the weekend is to get lots of work done and to clean the apartment (which will apparently fall completely on me - have now learned that I don't really like living with guys....especially antisocial guys....). Hopefully I will have some fun this weekend, as well. I guess we shall see.....
- Lizzardie, at 12:25 PM
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Wednesday, June 20, 2001
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Ugh...I've been feeling so moody lately, I don't know why. It's funny, because I've been pretty fortunate lately. I'm getting good grades, I have great friends, I'm eating well, etc.... Other than the fact that it's kind of boring here over the summer...I think that might be it. It's like I'm in full-blown school mode, but no one else is. In fact, my classes aren't even worth being in school mode for. The weekends are usually fine, since I'm either with my friends, sleeping, working or doing work. But during the week - so boring. I don't have THAT much work to do. I wish I had more social roommates. Or a tv, then I could indulge in some mindless entertainment. Oh well.
As I said I was going to, I had dinner with Amy yesterday and we did make pizza. Rather, I made pizza, because she ran home to drop off her roommate and her groceries, and by the time she got back, the pizza was pretty much ready to go in the oven. Such is life. We did have a really great conversation, though. We talked about Cornell and post-Cornell and politics and people....it was great. It helped me to not only gain a little perspective on my own thoughts and beliefs, but to learn a little more about Amy as well. That's why I love being here this summer. Forging better bonds with my friends who are here. It's something that just doesn't happen as much during the regular school year. Probably because of the mind-blowing stress - it's a shame, really. I recommend everyone spend a summer in Ithaca. Even if you've never been here. It's great.
I have a stats prelim tomorrow. I was thinking it will be harder than the first one, but now I don't know. It's amazing how well it's all come together in the last few days. There are some things that I'm shaky on still, though, so I guess I had better go study some more. But you know what's great about a prelim in section on Thursday afternoon? It means I'm done for 3 days!!! Yay!!! That is the best recuperation from a prelim that I can think of....
- Lizzardie, at 9:49 PM
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Tuesday, June 19, 2001
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Ugh....so tired....My classes still aren't all that difficult (although I should condition that statement by saying that I have prelims on Thursday and Monday) but it's getting to the point in the "term" (I don't know what word to use - I'm so used to semesters!) where I know the routine and things are just getting boring. This usually happens about halfway through the semester. Lucky for me this time, halfway through means there are only 2 weeks left instead of the usual 7. Can't beat that.
I bought new sandals yesterday. I'm so excited, because I've been in desperate need of shoes lately. All of my current shoes (with the exception of these new ones) are very very worn. I paid more than I wanted to for these ones (I bought them at Fontana's) but I've paid more for shoes and hopefully these ones will last. Well, I'd like them to get me through the summer - any pair of shoes should do that at the very least, right?
Tomorrow is Tuesday, which now means weekly Wegman's run and dinner with Amy. It's my turn to cook, so I think I'll be making pizza. It's difficult, because Amy only eats turkey and chicken, there's only so much you can do with turkey and I'm not a big fan of chicken. A nice veggie pizza should be good, though, and Amy and I can pick out the vegetables together so that it will be a filling meal for both of us.
I think now, though, that it is time for me to go to bed, as my eyelids have been drooping all evening....
- Lizzardie, at 12:07 AM
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Monday, June 18, 2001
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The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. - Eden Phillpotts
Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. - Scott Adams
Aren't these great? They're my only new ones from anytime recent, so I don't want to start a new page yet (I figure 10 will be a good number to start page 8 with). But, I did want to share them with you all, so here they are! I get such a rush out of find new quotes - it's kind of ridiculous really, but I have to find inspiration somewhere!
- Lizzardie, at 5:07 PM
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Sunday, June 17, 2001
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Ahh, once again, the weekend has flown by and I have gotten very little done. Although, it's not like I have all that much stuff to do. Hmm. I did pretty much waste Friday, though.
My arms are hurting. I helped Herb move his stuff into his new place yesterday. I don't remember my arms hurting when I moved my stuff, and I'm pretty sure I carried heavier and a larger number of things when I moved my stuff. It really doesn't make any sense. I don't know. He repayed me with ramen and a doughnut, so that was cool. The real repayment will come in about 6 weeks, when I make him help me move my stuff over to Natalie's. I promised ramen for that, so I guess it all works out. I don't know.
I played frisbee with Helen and some of her friends today. It's funny that before college I never really played frisbee. Why is this something no one ever did at home? It seems odd to me now, because everyone plays here.
I just tried calling home to wish my dad a happy Father's Day. I got no answer. Seems odd to me, considering that I know they own an answering machine. Or at least, they did the last time I was there. I guess I'll try later. Or try the cell phone, one of the two.
That's really all I have to say right now. I need to go and do my stats homework so that I can do other work (yippee!) tomorrow night...
- Lizzardie, at 8:48 PM
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Thursday, June 14, 2001
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Ugh - was it really only 60 degrees last week or the week before? What has happened??? I'm so not used to 90 degree weather - and no air conditioning!!! I know - I've only had a/c at home for 4 years, but I spoil quickly, what do you want? It's not as bad as at home, I suppose. At home, when it's 90 outside, it's about 100 inside. Here, it's about 80 inside - plus I have a fan. And at home, it doesn't cool down at night - while here, it's already under 70. Yay!!! Tomorrow it will be hot again, but at least I won't be stuck on the second floor of Upson - I feel like I can't breathe when I'm there. Ugh. I suppose I'll be spending the majority of the afternoon sunning and making more phone calls to CT. Yay for me.
I'm so glad the week is over, though. I hate having 2 assignments due on Thursdays - it really sucks. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, though. That was the worst part of my week, and perhaps it would have been a little easier to manage had a trip to Wegmans and dinner with Amy not been a four hour affair on Tuesday. What are you gonna do, though? My friends are back in town, so I need to spend time with them to make up for the 2 weeks I sat around doing nothing.
Here's a weird event from last night. I'm in my kitchen, killing bugs. It's 1:30 in the morning. I've given up on stats homework, because I was just too tired to continue - besides, it wasn't due until 2:30 the following afternoon. I hear tapping at my window. Not my kitchen window, because there's a landing, but the window of the landing. I go out there, and there's a drunk guy on the roof. Yes, on the roof. Asking me mine, telling me where he lives (in one of the other apartments in the house I live in), trying to get me to go onto the roof and go over to meet his friends. It's was very, very strange. I don't even think he told me his name. I think he might have been cute, but I'm not sure, given the fact that he was drunk and it was dark. I would hate to say that he was cute and later find out that I misjudged in my tired and not very perceptive state. Ahh, the joys of being in college, living on your own. I'd never have these kind of adventures at home.
- Lizzardie, at 10:54 PM
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Tuesday, June 12, 2001
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Well. I went in to have a talk with my friends (ha!) in the financial aid office today. This is becoming a weekly visit - never a good sign. I was there for over an hour today, and this is what I found out:
- When they said they'd increase my loan amount a week and a half ago, they never did.
- The money that I'm supposed to get to pay my rent, pay for food, utilities, etc... - I won't be getting any of that until July. When in July? They don't know.
- The only way for me to get any money would be to take out a short-term loan from Cornell, which would mean paying interest (at a higher rate) on a loan I'm already paying interest on!
Now, on top of realizing that I don't have any money right now (possibly enough spare stuff lying around in bank accounts and my desk to be 50 dollars, but I doubt it), I've come to the following conclusions:
- Cornell is out to screw me.
- I've been lied to by both the people in the co-op office and the financial aid office. "Financial aid for co-op summer is the same as for a regular semester." "That loan will be disbursing in a matter of days." Ha! on both of them.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that there are policies in place, and that since I'm dealing with a about 6 non-related departments, I should cut them a break. But, if someone had been like, well, financial aid doesn't QUITE work the same over the summer - here are the differences (as in there is no pending credit so you get finance charges when your loans don't disburse, and oh yeah, your loans don't disburse), that would have been one thing. I could have weighed my options a bit more realistically. Now it's 3 weeks (going on 4) into the co-op summer, and I find out I'm screwed. I'm living in an apartment where I haven't paid the rent, and feel horribly because it's like I'm taking advantage of a friend. I'm going to have to spend 300 dollars AGAIN on books. I already asked my parents for money, and I'd rather fend for myself (even if it means living off of rice ala Survivor for the rest of the summer) than ask for more. And borrow from the university at the ridiculous interest level they charge? What kind of institution is this?
I'm quite upset right now, as you've probably ascertained. As you may or may not know, I watch my finances like a hawk, and when things go wrong, I get pretty worked up about it. I'm sure I'll figure out a solution, but in the meantime, it would probably be a good idea to try and not screw me over. Is it too much trouble to be told the truth? I mean, seriously, all I ask is for people/departments/whatever to be upfront with me, tell me the circumstances, let me make a decision based on all of the facts. And it's not like I didn't ask questions - I did. But all of the answers I got made everything out to be way different than any of it is. So, so not cool.
- Lizzardie, at 6:35 PM
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Monday, June 11, 2001
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I thought I would jot a few words down, even though *gasp* I don't really have a lot of time. It turns out that I'm acing stats as well as accounting. It should feel good, but really, it doesn't. I mean, yeah, I'm happy that I'm doing so well, who wouldn't be? But it faintly reminds me of high school. After two years of college, I find it more satisfying to know that I've actually studied for something than to know that I walked in without a care in the world and threw down all the right answers. And everyone keeps asking me, so how are classes going? And I tell them, honestly of course. At first I was like, no one else is taking classes right now, so I shouldn't feel bad about telling everyone I'm doing well. But, for some reason, I do. I just don't know. I'm going insane, it's beginning to be so dull around here. It's a good thing people started rolling back in town, otherwise I don't know what I would do. Continue the boring repetition of go to class, eat, sleep, do some work, sleep some more, update my webpage, eat, go to sleep, start the whole process over again. Yeah, I know, you're reading this going, poor Liz, how horrible she has it, haha. But seriously, how many of you (especially if you're a friend from home) have looked at me with contempt because I've spent most of my life being able to coast by. There's a downside, I've decided. I have no passion, really, for anything I do. I don't know what it's like to work hard - it's like I chose my major for its ability to best satisfy my agenda, but I don't find myself truly enthralled with it. It's not that everyone is enthralled with their major. It's that I know that I'm not truly interested in the inner working of operations research. This really bothers me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it definitely bothers me.
On a lighter note, Amy (Gershkoff - one of the many Amy's I know) is back in town, so things should start being a bit more interesting. I'm going to Wegman's with her tomorrow, which isn't exciting, but I need food. I'm also going to try and hitch a ride to Syracuse with her ASAP, as I really really need to go shopping. Not really, but I really really want to go shopping. And, she has big plans to go to the Haunt for 80's night every Saturday night this summer. I don't know if I can manage to go every Saturday - that might actually kill me - but I would definitely be up for some dancing this summer. I'm determined to make my summer in Ithaca the best summer I've had thus far. Let's see how I do....
- Lizzardie, at 11:57 PM
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Sunday, June 10, 2001
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So....yesterday I actually had an eventful evening! Yay! Good thing, too, because I was beginning to think that no one liked me anymore.
I was sitting on my porch doing acctng. homework, when Herb and Mariam pulled up, and were like, we're having a party, come get drunk with us. I was game, because anything is better than acctng. homework on a Sat. night. So we went back to Herb's sublet, Mariam made chocolate chip cookies (ones where you just add water - who invented such a thing?) and then Chris and Helen arrived. After Chris left, Herb decided that we were going to play strip poker. I think that it might be a better game when the sexes are evened up a little better, instead of 3 to 1. Just a suggestion. =) After Shirley got there, we stopped playing strip poker (when Helen and I, who didn't have much left to lose, express discontent in the current game) and played darts. Mariam and I whooped Helen and Herb! =) Yay for us, considering the number of years that have gone by since I've thrown a dart (and I was never all that good in the first place). So, none of us got drunk, but all and all it was a fun evening.
Other than that, my day was pretty dull. I went to work, where I got to deal with many weird calls and weird people ("Hi, is this like Ticketron? Can I buy Yankees tickets here?" or "Hi, can you give me the number for Ticketmaster? I want to buy N'Sync tickets for Pittsburgh."). I did buy a curtain to act as my closet door at the House of Shalimar, though. It's really pretty, although it doesn't really act as a door, as you can see right through it. So it's blue mesh, with some really pretty blue embroidery and those cool little mirror reflective things in it. I payed way more than I should have for it, but I like it. =) If it wasn't so expensive, I might have bought two, so that I could use them as real curtains. Oh well. Maybe another time.
- Lizzardie, at 11:55 AM
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Saturday, June 09, 2001
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Look, it's a cute little mood indicator (currently indicated my feelings towards the fin. aid office, somewhat toned down). By the way, I think any updates I make to this page (structure/layout-wise) I'm just going to put here. It's not really worth my time to go and update my updates page, then change my last updated thing, and on and on.....
- Lizzardie, at 12:01 AM
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Friday, June 08, 2001
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I just ate an orange, which has done the most out of anything I've tried today (including sleep and ibuprofen) to combat my headache. Go Vitamin C!
Anyway, as I said I would, I spent a good couple hours today outside calling CT. I spoke with some people and I also left a lot of voice mails. Of the people I spoke with, some were nice, some were not. It looks like I will have a place to live, though, the only question is how far away will it be. I don't mind driving, but these people I spoke with seemed concerned. Price seems pretty much set in stone, but it also appears reasonable. No one I spoke with was like, we're raising our prices to 200/week - good sign.
Other than that, it's been pretty dull. Got a chapter of acctng. read - hope to have another one read by the end of the night, since there's really nothing else to do. Wow, it's boring here over the summer. At least right now it is - where the hell is everyone? Sheesh. Tomorrow I will go into work - hopefully it will either be busier or I will be able to get some work done. Who knows.
I have a few complaints (what else is new) with the financial aid office. I swear - all I ever heard in the beginning stages of the co-op process was how financial aid was done the same as if it was a regular semester. I have found that this isn't true, and the fin. aid office might want to let the people in the co-op office know this. First, there's the fact that I can't get anymore money. I haven't even asked Cornell to give me more money. I just want to be able to take out more loan money. But will they let me? No. Then there's the fact that my federal loan has yet to disburse, even though I keep getting told that it will "any day now." And they said they'd increase my loan by a couple hundred dollars (from me reducing my work-study) but when I look at my CitiAssist account, does it appear they've contacted them? Nope. And here's the killer - I just looked at my bursar bill and there's a finance charge for my balance. What ever happened to pending credit? Before that, though, CitiAssist says they've disbursed 500 dollars more, but is that on my bill? No. So, money that should be there isn't and I'm not getting credited for money that will be coming. If this was a regular semester, there would be pending credit. Especially at this early in the game. Now, this means I have to go in there AGAIN to talk to them. They'll probably wave their hands again and say it will all be fine, but this is ridiculous. I need some damn money. There's this thing called Liz has to eat. Liz also has to pay bills. I got money from my parents today, but that went straight towards my credit card bill (which was mostly a school expense - I charged my books). At least now I'll actually have room under my limit to charge things. ARGH!!!!!!!!! GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
- Lizzardie, at 10:05 PM
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By the way - the image (I encourage you to build one of your own at this site) doesn't really look like me. I'm aware of this. It would probably be as accurate as the program would allow if I hadn't added the glasses, since I don't really ever where my glasses (probably could have put more suitable clothes on her as well). But, I decided I aspire to be like this chick. She manages to look tough - even though she's wearing glasses and has a cat - while still managing to be feminine. We all have to aspire to something, right?
- Lizzardie, at 12:15 AM
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So what do you think of the new scrollbar thing? I've always wanted to know how to change the color on the scrollbar, and today, I finally figured it out. Yay for me! I don't know that I like it, though, so I might take it away or modify it some. It's just that it seems a bit tacky, even for my site. But possibly, it's just so tacky that I'll have to add one to everyone of my pages! We'll see. I've decided my web page is my creative outlet. I don't write, I don't draw and photography is just a way to capture memories for me - nothing more. I need something to express my creative naggings. Either that, or I need an excuse to continue obsessing over my page. Whichever works for you.
So....prelims....I'm not going to spend much time on this subject. I mean, they're over, so it's time to move on to bigger and better things. BUT, I need to mention that I got a 100 on my accounting prelim. Yes, that's right, a perfect score. It has been quite awhile (high school) since I've seen a perfect score on a test, so I have to take time to gloat. Whoever said co-op summer was really difficult? Sheesh. I'm halfway through my first set of classes - it's not difficult yet (I don't think my stats prelim went poorly, btw). I mean, there is that whole giving up my entire summer to be barracaded in my room studying....oh, wait, I'm not studying - nevermind. Seriously, there are some downfalls to co-op summer - but so far, it's not treating me THAT badly. The worst part is the boredom I'm experiencing....where is everyone???
I've had this intense desire to shop, lately. There's really no surprise here, as I love to shop, and many of you have probably deduced this. I hate not having money. I swear, as soon as I get a decent amount of money (meaning enough to pay off my credit card so that I can charge it up again) I'm hitting the mall. Who cares about the quality of Pyramid Mall? They have an Old Navy, a Gap, a Lerner, etc... I can charge up a decent amount of money at these stores. I was talking to Eileen today about how great Old Navy and Gap are. I told her that the owner should be given a prize for opening these stores. Then I realized that the owner is making a ton of money, so we decided that we are the ones who deserve prizes. What for? Shopping at the stores, of course! So, yeah, once I get money, I don't think I'm going to be able to wait until I'm able to go to a decent mall (namely, Carousel Center, when Amy's GRE class in Syracuse starts). It's going to be a fast and furious shopping spree. Anyone want to give me an early birthday present?
So, tomorrow - Friday - I think I'm actually going to put my bonus day off to good use. It's finally gotten warm, so I'm going to be chilling outside for a good portion of the day. This should make me feel fairly cheery, because the weather has been pretty dismal lately. Not rain so much (although there has been some of that). It's just been so damn cold! I'm cheering because it's topped 70 - and it's June!!! Sheesh. I'm going to make it a productive day outside, though. I could start reading accounting (as the work never stops - even after a prelim), but since it is right after a prelim, I'm going to put that off for a day. Instead, I'm going to start making phone calls to find a place to live in CT this fall. Gotta love cordless phones. Hopefully, by the end of the day, I will have a better idea of where I will be living than I do now (which is really no idea) - I'm hoping not to make a final decision this soon, though. I want to mull over my options. But, after I have the housing situation solved, that will free me up to figure out what kind of car I'm going to buy. I mean, I figure, even if I end up living with a bunch of psychos, I can live out of my car, right? So that's a much more important decision (and involves a much larger sum of money). So that's the plan. I had best go finish my pre-housing search research so that tomorrow runs as smoothly as possible.
- Lizzardie, at 12:04 AM
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Wednesday, June 06, 2001
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My website has gotten one hit today, and here's the remote host (according to the-counter.net): fw.chi.playboy.com. I can't offer any explanation, and that's all I really have to say right now.
- Lizzardie, at 1:16 PM
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It's just been one of those days.... I've felt really out of it today. I'm not really sure why, because nothing special happened to put me in a bad mood. I guess I could blame it on my impending prelims, but I'm not too worried about them. Acctng will be easy, as long as I check my arithmetic (confession: while I'm pretty good at calculus, I think I forgot how to add and subtract long ago). And stats - well, I have a day to study yet and we haven't really gone over THAT much that's new material. So, no, I don't think it's the prelims.
I think it's more that I'm bored. There's, like, no one around. For the first time, I have very unsocial roommates - not cool, because I need more human reaction in a day. Not too many of my friends are around right now, either. It's that off time where everyone seems to be home for a couple weeks before settling in here for the summer. I, on the other hand, have had no break. There are the other engineers, but I swear, it feels like high school again. Small classes, where I fit in, but don't fit in. I mean, the other engineers are nice and everything, but being a newcomer, I don't really feel like I gel with them. I can't really explain it, I guess.
Perhaps this feeling of dread comes from the fact that for the first time I can remember, I have a negative amount of money. Not good, not good at all. I'll be fine once loans come through, but I owe a couple people money and I have a rather large credit card payment due next week. Hopefully it will all work out. Had to ask my parents for money - they're going to come through, but it was very painful on my ego (I guess - it was painful somehow) to ask. Right now, I'm just trusting that everything will work out.
I ran into Allison the other day. She's living with Ryoko this summer, who was at Shirley's graduation party (she was Shirley's sister's roommate this past year). I swear, directly or indirectly, PSP is connected to everyone I know on campus. Given that there are 13,000 undergrads on campus, and that I know only a tiny fraction of these people, I find this slightly eerie (spelled correctly this time, Jaclyn). I guess the world really is much smaller than I think it is, even here at Cornell.
- Lizzardie, at 12:25 AM
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Tuesday, June 05, 2001
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I got my web statistics today on my webpage from CUPeople. I was looking at the referral stats and it said that someone got to my page from google. So I go there, and start typing things in. If you type in "Elizabeth Jones Cornell," one of the first things you get is a listing of ORIE majors here at Cornell. So, yes, I actually do come up in a search engine. If you try "Liz's Home Page Cornell," the fourth site down is, you got it, my webpage. So, so eerie. I mean, I've used search engines before, but I never actually thought that I would find myself coming up in one. I don't know if I like this or not.
I've decided to track all of my pages of my site. I realized that while I have a good idea of who is visiting the main page, I have no idea who is visiting the other pages (and I know there are a lot of them). While I don't have the page just in the hopes of people visiting it and showering me with attention, it would be nice to know if it's actually worth my time and effort to update pages as frequently as I do. And (I have a feeling soon) at some point I will run out of space on the server, and will have to eliminate some things. So, if no one ever visits my archives, why have them at all, right? This certainly isn't meant to be a plug to go and visit every page on my site. I just want to know what interests people and what doesn't. I hope no one is wasting their time laboring over every single page I have up. Liz Hartman said at one time that she went to my page, and ended up spending an hour there. And while I'm flattered, I know that everyone has their own lives that need not be spent on my site. Now that I put up code to capture stats on this page, I know that at least one person has read it, so I guess this is worth my time and effort to update frequently.
I talked with Amy Austin on IM today. I was really excited, because it's been so long since I've talked to her. I sent out an email to a whole slew of people who I've lost contact with, not sure if anyone would respond back to me. Amy has, so I know it's all worthwhile. I realize that I definitely deserve a large chunk of the blame for falling out of contact with a lot of people, and now that I'm not sure when I'll be back home again, I'm definitely feeling it. I mean, how many times have I gone, well, I'll be home in a couple months/weeks/days? Or, when I'm home, I'm still here for another month/week/day? Well, the months, weeks and days until I'm home again have suddenly multiplied by a possibly infinite number and right now, the months, weeks and days that I'm home have shrunk to zero. It's amazing how fast two years have gone by. And Amy might come and visit me in August, which would be really cool. I love visitors!
Studying for my prelims is actually going pretty well. Acctng is pretty tedious, but at the same time, it's pretty easy, too. I was able to correctly do most of the practice prelim, and I didn't have to look anything up - always a good sign. The TA (who actually took the practice prelim when she was in the class) said that Prof. Callister doesn't offer any tricks in any of his tests and that if you understand the homework, you'll do fine. This is a very good thing to me. Interestingly, when Prof. Callister told us about the date of the prelim (none of this is set in stone, it seems, for summer classes) he referred to it as a "little quiz." Not exactly what I would call a prelim, but hey, whatever. While acctng. is, once again, tedious, and he doesn't tell outright jokes, he has a very dry sense of humor, which definitely makes class more bearable. That, and he's from the Midwest, and as a Midwesterner, it's really obvious. None of this is really important, of course, but I just thought anyone reading this should know that I'm not stressed out (yet - give it another two weeks).
- Lizzardie, at 1:22 AM
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Monday, June 04, 2001
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I turned my mp3's on today, as I usually do before I start making breakfast. I have Winamp set to play a continuous stream of randomly selected mp3's, so what I usually do (unless I really want to hear a particular song) is just press play, and let it start playing wherever the hell it wants. So what was the first song to come out of my speakers this morning? Manic Monday, of course! How appropriate. Props to Winamp.
I've been spending too much time working on my website lately. What can I say? It's addictive. I keep wanting it to be bigger and better. It takes a long time, though, because I don't know html all that well, so I keep having to reference a guide (this is the way it is with a lot of CS-related stuff - you can't know everything) and then I have to look at it and see if what I typed in actually corresponds to what I want the page to look like. And damn Netscape - I hate Netscape. All of the things I've added don't show up in Netscape. What kind of web browser is it if it won't recognize half of the commands? I don't give a damn about the Microsoft monopoly - does anyone ever stop to consider that perhaps the monopoly occured because it's a better product? I can't say for sure, of course, about all Microsoft products, but I can say that I like IE much better than Netscape.
Anyway, like I said, I've been spending too much time on the website. I mean, think about it. My choices half the time are do accounting homework, do statistics homework or work on my site. This is tought, really. I suppose it wouldn't be so much of a problem normally - I mean, my work always gets done, even if it's at the last minute. BUT, this week I have an acctng. prelim on Wed. and a stats prelim on Thurs., so I really should be spending my time studying. I guess I'll do that today and tomorrow and Wed. BUT, as soon as I get Jaclyn's approval on some choices of pictures, I will have a second page of pictures up. YAY. Don't worry, it's already written, pictures are scanned. I just have to post the link to it. I would like to decrease the size of the picture files, but I don't know how much I can do that without losing quality, and I'm not really sure on the exchange value in that. We'll see.
- Lizzardie, at 11:12 AM
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Saturday, June 02, 2001
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I'm back from lunch. You can tell how terribly interesting it is to work here, haha. Tanya came in, and said that possibly next week it will still be slow, but then it will pick up for the rest of the summer. I suppose that's good. I mean, right now I could do my homework, but I don't really have motivation for acctng. right now.
So I went to the festival, had some festival food. I was a little disappointed. I got deep dish pizza from the Nines booth - it wasn't deep dish pizza. Just because you don't roll the dough as thin or you put the pizza in a square pan does not make it deep dish pizza. I suppose I'm slightly biased, though. The fresh-squeezed lemonade wasn't as good as I had hoped, either. At least the baklava was good, although I wished I had seen the stuff at the Greek Orthodox Church booth before I got the stuff I did. It looked much better. I had a delicious pineango shaved ice thing, too, which was pretty good.
I do love these fair things, though. I could spend hours looking at all of the crafts. It's a good thing I don't have a lot of money, because if I did, I'd probably buy a whole ton of useless stuff. They had these really cool marquetry mirrors and tables. I saw one of those Home and Garden shows on marquetry once (I don't know why I watched it, but I did) and it's definitely an art. I guess the only good schools for it are in France, and it takes a lot of practice. This would explain why these things were going for 800, 900, more than a thousand dollars on some of one. They were quite beautiful. I also love how much tye-dye stuff you find at these things. Tye-dye hasn't been in style for years now, yet there are always at least 3 or 4 tents selling tye-dye products.
Okay, I'm going to go and attempt some accounting. Probably a good idea, because we all know how much work I manage to accomplish in my apartment.
- Lizzardie, at 3:45 PM
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I'm at work right now, and it's incredibly boring. No one's coming in, there's no music, blah. I'm currently waiting for Pete to come back so that I can go eat lunch (sooo hungry - I never eat this late) and explore Ithaca Festival. I'm sorta excited about this festival - it reminds me of the days of going to Lisle Fest and Heritage Fest. Ohh, yay, Pete's back, so I'm going to go and get food. Faster than I expected....
- Lizzardie, at 2:03 PM
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Friday, June 01, 2001
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I just had the most delicious dinner. Natalie came over and we went to Wegman's to go shopping. I spent quite a bit of money.... Then we came back here and made pizza - you know, one of those Boboli things. We put tomatoes, green peppeers, mushrooms and onions on it, in addition to sauce and cheese. It was very, very yummy. Filling, too. You know how deep dish pizza is filling? It's because there's so much grease, I think. This was filling because it contained actual nutricious ingredients. Then, of course, we made a cake. =) Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden (? I don't really know what this means) with Chocolate Butter Cream frosting. Yuuuuummmmm. If you're nearby, there's still a ton left.... I realized that I would cook more - the food is so much better when you know what exactly is in it - but it takes way too long. To go to Wegman's, come back, cook the pizza and cake and eat them, it took Natalie and I three hours. Imagine if I spent that much time every day on food (and that's just one meal). I wouldn't be going to Cornell for much longer, that's for sure.
Hopefully, I won't need to go to the store again anytime soon, because I spent a lot of money on food. Almost my entire budget for 2 weeks! Of course, there was some cookingware in there - a sheetpan and pizza pie thing - but still. I can't really afford to go over my budget this summer, especially since getting more financial aid out of Cornell (even outside loans) has been like squeezing water from a rock.
I still have to go throught my fridge and freezer to see what, if anything spoiled during the great power outtage. I got an email from Amy today - she said that Surbhi specifically told David and Eric that the power had to be switched to one of their names by May 30th. Since yesterday was the 31st, I guess it makes sense that they turned off. And, I would like to know how the freezer door was mysteriously left open this morning. I know it was closed last night - I did everything I could to not open the fridge or freezer yesterday to keep all of the cold air in. Yet I get a knock on my door this morning from the landlord, who said water was leaking from our floor. It was from our freezer, which was wide open, melting all over the place. And I just bought new ice cream, too...
Hopefully this weekend will be relatively calm. I enjoy fun weekends, of course, but last weekend was bit too much. First 80's night at the Haunt with Amy (different Amy) and friends. While fun, it was like dancing in a sauna. And it just figures that as I'm about ready to collapse from the excruciating pain of my feet (so I shouldn't wear such uncomfortable shoes), that's when the guys start asking me to dance. What I want to know is where were they when I first got there? Then graduation and then Shirley's graduation party. And if everyone I know can avoid falling into a lake (specifically Cayuga Lake) this weekend, I'll be very, very pleased.
- Lizzardie, at 9:46 PM
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Power's back on. YAY!!!! =) Good thing, too, because I might have gotten desperate enough to use some of Ryan's suggestions on how to steal it.
- Lizzardie, at 11:50 AM
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